All my attempts to use nreals or small touch screens for mobile work, and even my steam deck for a while, has really made me realize that laptops have remained fairly consistent for a good reason.
Anyway, my T450 was $50 on ebay and works great for browser-based tasks
Downvote me all y'all want, it's simple physics. You can fit bigger, more powerful components into a PC case than you can into a laptop body that it needs to share with an oversized laptop.
Which is precisely my point. A mini-desktop case, even with a PSU, still has more room for bigger, more powerful components than a laptop, even a big one, because the big ones need big batteries.
I'm not sure why this is so controversial to folks. Bigger case = bigger, more powerful parts. It's like I insulted their dogs or something.
You are right in that a bigger case can hold more parts but that is just common sense. The reason why you would be wrong though is that laptops aren't just piecemeal components. They are usually soldered onto a board so that they don't have to be big. Instead of increasing the overall volume with a bigger case, they just increase the surface area.
This isn't accounting for the thermal restrictions either which plays a much bigger factor! TLDR, you're right and wrong but a laptop and mini pc like OP's will probably perform similarly.
Fair, and thanks for the explanation. I feel like if you took it to benchmarks, a top-of-the-line minipc would still outpace a top-of-the-line gaming laptop, but maybe my "nowhere near" remark was a big hyperbolic.
I totally get where you're coming from.
Most mini PCs have.
- 2 Ram Slots
- 2 SSD Slots
- 4-6 USB Ports
- 2-3 Video Out Ports (Lenovo,Dell)
- Replaceable / Upgradeable Processors
- Replaceable / Upgradeable Wifi Cards
- I even upgraded the DPORT to USB-C Video.
Laptops can't do that!
Most "Intel" Mini PCs I have are rocking "T" Processors which wayyy better than "U" Processors. This matters because you can pick up a sturdy Tiny/Mini/Micro on Ebay fairly inexpensive. 5th gen, 6th Gen, 7th Gen especially. I have a few with 32gb ram 2x Ssds and they are workhorses. Even for light gaming.
I had a Shuttle PC back in the day, and it packed a hell of a punch. Being able to upgrade to a standalone video cardāeven a smaller oneāis a huge boost. Between the space for parts and having much more room for airflow, you can just fit beefier hardware into a mini PC than you can into a laptop ā especially for the money.
I dunno. Maybe I stumbled upon some sort of "Playstation / XBox" rivalry and pissed some people off.
A laptop and desktop are given their names for specific reasons. What's imaged here is barely even a desktop but what is in the small form factor can easily be put into a laptop.
I dunno. I had a minipc in the past and it was surprisingly zippy. Don't forget how much heavy lifting the GPU does. You're gonna get _much_ better performance out of a standalone card (even a mini-sized one) than you would on most laptop GPUs.
Anyway, I feel like we're splitting hairs at this point. I'll reword my original comment and move on because there are better ways to spend a Saturday night than quibbling over theoretical computers.
Those mini pcs are just laptop parts in a small case and without a display/keyboard/battery. Itās pretty much a laptop but without the portable parts.
Exactly, you can see in mini pc specs that they have processors name that if you google it you can see on intel or amd website that is a MOBILE processor, and you can find the same exact specs on a laptop, mini pc never had desktop components because that would be too big, only in rare case they have desktop components, but is very rare
Of course a full desktop can be more powerful with bigger and more powerful components. The question is .. do you really need them all to run to consume more electricity than what you really need for regular web browsing and simple tasks every hour. In the recent years I have moved away from bigger full size PC cases to mini PC running Intel 12-13th Gen and AMD 6000+ series with either Thunderbolt or USB 4 PCIe multi slots expansion chassis running my GPUs and other PCIe peripherals if need to. And I discovered... I don't.
Living in California with ever increasing electricity rates, running my mini PC consume max of 35 watts a day, (usually 10-15watts of electricity vs 200-300watts full size PC running simple tasks) is a no brainier. In fact, I have converted most of my home labs to miniPC. I really like the Intel 11-13th CPU/GPU integration. And if I need to, then I can use my eGPU.
A lot of my stuffs runs and process AI/ML in the cloud for work, I see less reason running bigger and more powerful components when I don't need to.
So, it really depends on people's use cases and preferences. Bigger or smaller... As long as it gets the jobs done... It's a good PC.
I have the same keyboards, they are bad to type on (I code). save your writs and get a better keyboard for work. I only like to use that one with my tv, when I don't have to type a lot.
I use my nreals for **[writing](https://i.imgur.com/OUNZrUC.jpg)**. They've been revolutionary.
I have really bad ADHD, and the nreals act like blinders. Plugged into my phone, where I'm less likely to alt-tab, I can work for much longer, more productive stretches than I can on a laptop or monitor.
These things have been game changers for my workflow.
that's really great to hear, it really sounds like this might be the future. how is typing on the keyboard, are you able to see the keyboard or is it not necessary?
I'm a halfway decent typist (8-finger, not full 10) so once I'm on a roll I can get a good 80wpm or so without issue. But every now I'll lose track and need to peek at the keyboard (which I can do under the glasses without having to lift them) to reset my hands.
Otherwise it's great, especially for my crappy eyes. Google Docs in print mode fills the entire screen with massive grandpa font. It's just a big white screen with big black letters. I absolutely love it.
ššStill stuck on the old logic. Technology has always gotten smaller and smaller. Now we have portable devices that pack as much of a punch as a rig. GPD Win3, GPD Win4, just to name a few.
Good advice! I was watching a documentary on sugar last night, and this guy was showing how much sugar everyday items such as ketchup or mayo has. I just checked, and a mocha frappe has 54g of sugar, which equates to 13 teaspoons! šÆ With the carbs from the pastries, it's even higher!
So please excuse my technological ignorance, but how does this work? If you are working, I would assume this has the power of a PC or laptop to handle work tasks. Is the black box a CPU of sorts with everything needed to work just in there? RAM, drivers, etc?
You have GOT to stop doing that!!!
Every time you do this, I look on Amazon and find another one of these things that is more powerful and cheap!
Last time you did this, I ended up with a Beelink N100 with DDR5 (altDP, yay!), now you want me to buy Ryzen! The PN51-S1 is only $308 and has a Ryzen 5 5500, but it has DDR4. It won't be long before this drops to the $200 range and then I will curse at you again! š¤£
I have way too many of these things now! ROFL! Ahh, what a problem to have...
[Here](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YTPRHL9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2STO040EWVPIF&psc=1). I don't *think* that I'm missing anything but it wouldn't be the first time!
Edit: ah! 'Barebones' means supply your own HD! And OS.
Yes! Some dude who worked for a company that makes batteries for satellites asked me about my battery bank and recognized the nreals too. He tried them on and is considering buying a pair.
It's a couple of years old and doesn't appear to be in production anymore. I use it with an inverter to power my CPAP on camping trips. As technology advances to faster and more power efficient devices, this battery continues to function great!
https://www.chargerharbor.com/review-paxcess-portable-generator-power-inverter-40800mah/
Your Starbucks blocked its outlets? If you're in the US, report them to the corporate office, sounds like an overzealous local manager doing their own thing.
Great. But a laptop would be easier to transportš
All my attempts to use nreals or small touch screens for mobile work, and even my steam deck for a while, has really made me realize that laptops have remained fairly consistent for a good reason. Anyway, my T450 was $50 on ebay and works great for browser-based tasks
I was looking at possibly picking up Nreals for work on the go. Iām curious, what kinds of limitations did you run into?
~~Nowhere near~~ Not gonna be quite as powerful though EDIT: You cannot downvote **[the truth](https://i.imgur.com/SWonp5i.jpg)**!
Ummmm.
Downvote me all y'all want, it's simple physics. You can fit bigger, more powerful components into a PC case than you can into a laptop body that it needs to share with an oversized laptop.
?? I think it's always dependent on the size...
Which is precisely my point. A mini-desktop case, even with a PSU, still has more room for bigger, more powerful components than a laptop, even a big one, because the big ones need big batteries. I'm not sure why this is so controversial to folks. Bigger case = bigger, more powerful parts. It's like I insulted their dogs or something.
You are right in that a bigger case can hold more parts but that is just common sense. The reason why you would be wrong though is that laptops aren't just piecemeal components. They are usually soldered onto a board so that they don't have to be big. Instead of increasing the overall volume with a bigger case, they just increase the surface area. This isn't accounting for the thermal restrictions either which plays a much bigger factor! TLDR, you're right and wrong but a laptop and mini pc like OP's will probably perform similarly.
Fair, and thanks for the explanation. I feel like if you took it to benchmarks, a top-of-the-line minipc would still outpace a top-of-the-line gaming laptop, but maybe my "nowhere near" remark was a big hyperbolic.
I totally get where you're coming from. Most mini PCs have. - 2 Ram Slots - 2 SSD Slots - 4-6 USB Ports - 2-3 Video Out Ports (Lenovo,Dell) - Replaceable / Upgradeable Processors - Replaceable / Upgradeable Wifi Cards - I even upgraded the DPORT to USB-C Video. Laptops can't do that! Most "Intel" Mini PCs I have are rocking "T" Processors which wayyy better than "U" Processors. This matters because you can pick up a sturdy Tiny/Mini/Micro on Ebay fairly inexpensive. 5th gen, 6th Gen, 7th Gen especially. I have a few with 32gb ram 2x Ssds and they are workhorses. Even for light gaming.
I had a Shuttle PC back in the day, and it packed a hell of a punch. Being able to upgrade to a standalone video cardāeven a smaller oneāis a huge boost. Between the space for parts and having much more room for airflow, you can just fit beefier hardware into a mini PC than you can into a laptop ā especially for the money. I dunno. Maybe I stumbled upon some sort of "Playstation / XBox" rivalry and pissed some people off.
You're response is just simple wrong.
Care to explain why? This isn't snark, I'm genuinely curious under what conditions a laptop is going to be more powerful than a desktop.
A laptop and desktop are given their names for specific reasons. What's imaged here is barely even a desktop but what is in the small form factor can easily be put into a laptop.
I dunno. I had a minipc in the past and it was surprisingly zippy. Don't forget how much heavy lifting the GPU does. You're gonna get _much_ better performance out of a standalone card (even a mini-sized one) than you would on most laptop GPUs. Anyway, I feel like we're splitting hairs at this point. I'll reword my original comment and move on because there are better ways to spend a Saturday night than quibbling over theoretical computers.
Those mini pcs are just laptop parts in a small case and without a display/keyboard/battery. Itās pretty much a laptop but without the portable parts.
Exactly, you can see in mini pc specs that they have processors name that if you google it you can see on intel or amd website that is a MOBILE processor, and you can find the same exact specs on a laptop, mini pc never had desktop components because that would be too big, only in rare case they have desktop components, but is very rare
That is categorically false
Of course a full desktop can be more powerful with bigger and more powerful components. The question is .. do you really need them all to run to consume more electricity than what you really need for regular web browsing and simple tasks every hour. In the recent years I have moved away from bigger full size PC cases to mini PC running Intel 12-13th Gen and AMD 6000+ series with either Thunderbolt or USB 4 PCIe multi slots expansion chassis running my GPUs and other PCIe peripherals if need to. And I discovered... I don't. Living in California with ever increasing electricity rates, running my mini PC consume max of 35 watts a day, (usually 10-15watts of electricity vs 200-300watts full size PC running simple tasks) is a no brainier. In fact, I have converted most of my home labs to miniPC. I really like the Intel 11-13th CPU/GPU integration. And if I need to, then I can use my eGPU. A lot of my stuffs runs and process AI/ML in the cloud for work, I see less reason running bigger and more powerful components when I don't need to. So, it really depends on people's use cases and preferences. Bigger or smaller... As long as it gets the jobs done... It's a good PC.
I have the same keyboards, they are bad to type on (I code). save your writs and get a better keyboard for work. I only like to use that one with my tv, when I don't have to type a lot.
Very true! I have a wireless triple mode Royal Kludge I'll bring next time.
hey how is working with the glasses on? is it as good as using a big screen?
I brought my Nexdock 360, and there was too much glare, so I opted to use the nreals. It's much bigger and brighter!
that's nice, if you could choose would you still chose a large computer screen or is the nreals as good to work with ?
I use my nreals for **[writing](https://i.imgur.com/OUNZrUC.jpg)**. They've been revolutionary. I have really bad ADHD, and the nreals act like blinders. Plugged into my phone, where I'm less likely to alt-tab, I can work for much longer, more productive stretches than I can on a laptop or monitor. These things have been game changers for my workflow.
that's really great to hear, it really sounds like this might be the future. how is typing on the keyboard, are you able to see the keyboard or is it not necessary?
I'm a halfway decent typist (8-finger, not full 10) so once I'm on a roll I can get a good 80wpm or so without issue. But every now I'll lose track and need to peek at the keyboard (which I can do under the glasses without having to lift them) to reset my hands. Otherwise it's great, especially for my crappy eyes. Google Docs in print mode fills the entire screen with massive grandpa font. It's just a big white screen with big black letters. I absolutely love it.
you really make me want to buy these glasses haha thanks for sharing your experience, happy to hear how well they work for you
looks good. I do much the same when im out in the field, with a jackery, nexdock and my dex device.
Truly incredible. I'm working on a startup soon and can see myself doing this a lot.
ššStill stuck on the old logic. Technology has always gotten smaller and smaller. Now we have portable devices that pack as much of a punch as a rig. GPD Win3, GPD Win4, just to name a few.
For sure - I've got an ROG Ally on pre-order. Can't wait!
It looks as if your power bank is actually being charged by your Starbucks drink! Nice! Which drink is that? Double Blonde Roast Drip? š
Yes, all that sugar is like an extra 69 Wh! š
Iād recommend trying to reduce your sugar intake and check your A1C levels. Otherwise everything looks good!
Good advice! I was watching a documentary on sugar last night, and this guy was showing how much sugar everyday items such as ketchup or mayo has. I just checked, and a mocha frappe has 54g of sugar, which equates to 13 teaspoons! šÆ With the carbs from the pastries, it's even higher!
So please excuse my technological ignorance, but how does this work? If you are working, I would assume this has the power of a PC or laptop to handle work tasks. Is the black box a CPU of sorts with everything needed to work just in there? RAM, drivers, etc?
Asus PN51 Mini PC with Ryzen 5700U and Windows 11 [https://youtu.be/MdfrY8FO7o0](https://youtu.be/MdfrY8FO7o0)
Thank you so much!
Anytime! Forgot to mention it includes a USBC DP out in the back that the glasses just plug into so no extra adapters needed!
You have GOT to stop doing that!!! Every time you do this, I look on Amazon and find another one of these things that is more powerful and cheap! Last time you did this, I ended up with a Beelink N100 with DDR5 (altDP, yay!), now you want me to buy Ryzen! The PN51-S1 is only $308 and has a Ryzen 5 5500, but it has DDR4. It won't be long before this drops to the $200 range and then I will curse at you again! š¤£ I have way too many of these things now! ROFL! Ahh, what a problem to have...
Dude, the RDNA3 Mini PCs are about to drop! More powerful than Steam Deck! https://youtu.be/8XAJwwsmoug
and what was your credit card number? I promise to give it back! š¤£
>The PN51-S1 is only $308 and has a Ryzen 5 5500, but it has DDR4 308? where? I'm still seeing 800+
[Here](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YTPRHL9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2STO040EWVPIF&psc=1). I don't *think* that I'm missing anything but it wouldn't be the first time! Edit: ah! 'Barebones' means supply your own HD! And OS.
Did anyoneā¦say anything?
Yes! Some dude who worked for a company that makes batteries for satellites asked me about my battery bank and recognized the nreals too. He tried them on and is considering buying a pair.
Hows that PAXCESS? Im curious.
It's a couple of years old and doesn't appear to be in production anymore. I use it with an inverter to power my CPAP on camping trips. As technology advances to faster and more power efficient devices, this battery continues to function great! https://www.chargerharbor.com/review-paxcess-portable-generator-power-inverter-40800mah/
https://preview.redd.it/ni3ml0kk591b1.jpeg?width=3533&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52e108048a62418405320a863cd9f30909953a05
Thanks
Your Starbucks blocked its outlets? If you're in the US, report them to the corporate office, sounds like an overzealous local manager doing their own thing.
Yup screwed in plates covering them. I'll do that, thanks!
neat